Placer, Linear agree on Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo JV

Canadian mining company Placer Dome has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with fellow Canadian Linear Gold Corp. (VSX: LRR) to explore and possibly develop Linear's Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo property located adjacent to Placer's Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic, Linear announced. Under the agreement, Placer Dome may earn 52.5% in the Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo property by paying Linear US$775,000 and undertaking US$4mn-worth of exploration on it over the next 3.5 years. Placer can later boost its stake to 62.5% by bringing the property to feasibility-stage and completing a bankable feasibility study. Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo hosts the La Lechoza prospect, where previous work by the Dominican government's mining company Rosario Dominicana identified oxide gold mineralization through shallow drillholes. Follow-up work by Australia's MIM (now part of Switzerland's Xstrata, including geophysical exploration, soil sampling and trenching, and including some economic gold-copper assays. Linear acquired the Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo, as well as the Loma El Mate and Loma Hueca prospects in the Dominican Republic, along with a number of properties in southern Mexico, from MIM International Exploration in October, BNamericas previously reported. The cost of the transaction was not released.